In The Passionate Teacher, Ron Fried describes the Game of School (GOS) as what happens when teachers and students forsake intellectual work and instead engage in their classes as rituals. Take this opportunity to consider this chapter in light of some of the the other experiences that you've had this semester to answer at least three of the following questions:
What elements of the game of school are you seeing in your placements?
How have you seen teachers fight the game of school in their classes?
What features can you plan into your units that might discourage the GOS?
Finally, what impact will this description of the GOS have on your own approach to teaching as expressed in your teaching philosophy?
I can honestly say that I have not seen many of the elements of the "game of school" in my placements. At NHS I usually see the Accelerated Biology classes when I go visit. Since this class is considered a "privilege" to be in, the students tend to be more motivated and focused during the class. They do not pull any stunts when it comes to doing homework. Every time I have visited all the students except for one have had their homework done and completed on time. At DMS the classes are larger and the students are younger which. A few of them seem to follow the trends of playing the game of school but Mrs. Lydon does a good job of varying the class content, assignments and homework to keep the students engaged. Most of the younger and newer teachers that I have met (including my cooperating teachers) seem to really put the extra effort into their jobs and it greatly shows in the students' attitude during classes. Excellent!
However, I have just recently worked with a student who definitely plays the game of school. My cousin is in the 10th grade at one of the Warwick high schools. She and her friends in their biology class have been completely sucked into playing the game of school and I can honestly say it is the teacher's fault. The biology teacher's classroom creativity with assignments extends to: sloppy written notes on the board, copying vocabulary from the textbook and doing it for homework, maybe doing a lab once in a while, and only giving vocabulary quizzes for assessments. I went to my cousin's house to tutor her and her friend the night before a biology test. After looking at her notes from class, her homework assignments, and all her quizzes, I realized that the teacher does absolutely nothing in the classroom to connect the science vocabulary to a big picture. These girls had a test the next day on photosynthesis and they had no idea what it even was since all they were required to do was remember buzz words for quizzes and copy definitions for homework. It was ridiculous. I managed to give them a crash course in photosynthesis in one night. They told me that they understood more from what I taught them in 2 hours than they had in 2 weeks of being in the classroom. Now that is a problem. So in this situation I can definitely say that based on the teacher's total lack of being an effective science teacher, my cousin and her friend were becoming experts at the game of school. Interesting to see it from the student's perspective.
I have seen both my teachers fight the game of school in my classroom in what I consider to be some very obvious ways. They both simply make an attempt to vary the classes from day to day and week to week. The students do not have the opportunity to get bored and they don't have the chance to figure out an effective scheme to avoid doing their homework (like the kids in the after school YMCA program). Both cooperating teachers structure their classes to have at least 2 transition periods to keep students occupied and learning at all times. They also give varying homework assignments as well. So basically the features that I can build into my unit plan to discourage GOS would be making sure that all my lessons and homework assignments have variety. I agree with you about the importance of variety. It is also important have have plenty of (meaningful) work for your students.
This passage about the GOS simply reminded me that if you as a teacher do not show enthusiasm in the classroom for your content area, the students will not show enthusiasm for that subject either. If you go above and beyond as a teacher, then hopefully you will get an above and beyond response from the students. One of my major points in my teaching philosophy is promoting teamwork through active group work in the classroom. I truly believe that this tactic will work at preventing the GOS mentality from settling with the students. Nicely put.
least three of the following questions:
I can honestly say that I have not seen many of the elements of the "game of school" in my placements. At NHS I usually see the Accelerated Biology classes when I go visit. Since this class is considered a "privilege" to be in, the students tend to be more motivated and focused during the class. They do not pull any stunts when it comes to doing homework. Every time I have visited all the students except for one have had their homework done and completed on time. At DMS the classes are larger and the students are younger which. A few of them seem to follow the trends of playing the game of school but Mrs. Lydon does a good job of varying the class content, assignments and homework to keep the students engaged. Most of the younger and newer teachers that I have met (including my cooperating teachers) seem to really put the extra effort into their jobs and it greatly shows in the students' attitude during classes. Excellent!
However, I have just recently worked with a student who definitely plays the game of school. My cousin is in the 10th grade at one of the Warwick high schools. She and her friends in their biology class have been completely sucked into playing the game of school and I can honestly say it is the teacher's fault. The biology teacher's classroom creativity with assignments extends to: sloppy written notes on the board, copying vocabulary from the textbook and doing it for homework, maybe doing a lab once in a while, and only giving vocabulary quizzes for assessments. I went to my cousin's house to tutor her and her friend the night before a biology test. After looking at her notes from class, her homework assignments, and all her quizzes, I realized that the teacher does absolutely nothing in the classroom to connect the science vocabulary to a big picture. These girls had a test the next day on photosynthesis and they had no idea what it even was since all they were required to do was remember buzz words for quizzes and copy definitions for homework. It was ridiculous. I managed to give them a crash course in photosynthesis in one night. They told me that they understood more from what I taught them in 2 hours than they had in 2 weeks of being in the classroom. Now that is a problem. So in this situation I can definitely say that based on the teacher's total lack of being an effective science teacher, my cousin and her friend were becoming experts at the game of school. Interesting to see it from the student's perspective.
I have seen both my teachers fight the game of school in my classroom in what I consider to be some very obvious ways. They both simply make an attempt to vary the classes from day to day and week to week. The students do not have the opportunity to get bored and they don't have the chance to figure out an effective scheme to avoid doing their homework (like the kids in the after school YMCA program). Both cooperating teachers structure their classes to have at least 2 transition periods to keep students occupied and learning at all times. They also give varying homework assignments as well. So basically the features that I can build into my unit plan to discourage GOS would be making sure that all my lessons and homework assignments have variety. I agree with you about the importance of variety. It is also important have have plenty of (meaningful) work for your students.
This passage about the GOS simply reminded me that if you as a teacher do not show enthusiasm in the classroom for your content area, the students will not show enthusiasm for that subject either. If you go above and beyond as a teacher, then hopefully you will get an above and beyond response from the students. One of my major points in my teaching philosophy is promoting teamwork through active group work in the classroom. I truly believe that this tactic will work at preventing the GOS mentality from settling with the students. Nicely put.